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View Poll Results: How important is Preventing Iran from acquiring Nuclear Weapons?

Re: How important is it to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons?

Originally Posted by nota bene

The U.S. isn't the only country with with grave concerns. Iran makes a lot of threats.

Yes, but they're not stupid. They know that the second they fire off their one tiny nuke, their entire country is going to be a glowing desert. I don't care how many virgins they think they have coming, they're not that dumb.

There is nothing demonstrably true that religion can provide the world that cannot be achieved more rationally through entirely secular means.

Re: How important is it to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons?

Originally Posted by Cephus

Yes, but they're not stupid. They know that the second they fire off their one tiny nuke, their entire country is going to be a glowing desert. I don't care how many virgins they think they have coming, they're not that dumb.

Re: How important is it to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons?

Originally Posted by specklebang

Well, look who has nuclear weapons now....

"We are a rudderless country. No regard for God, no moral core, no leadership or regard for the rule of law. Our elected officials are a disgrace and our cesspool pop culture society is even worse." - Anonymous Internet Posting (2013)

"reckun we lost our innocents along the way" B.B. Thornton (not really)

Re: How important is it to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons?

Originally Posted by nota bene

Not stupid, crazy. Not necessarily rational.

No and we're not doing a damn thing to help them find rationality either. Christianity was once the crazy religion of the planet until secular society put the brakes on it and made them stop their most serious insanity, by and large. Today, you don't see much of that in the first world, only in third world countries. The same has to be done with Islam. Secular society has to tell them enough is enough and we're not going to put up with their violent, misogynistic crap, period.

Too bad so many people are terrified to stand up and tell them to grow the hell up.

There is nothing demonstrably true that religion can provide the world that cannot be achieved more rationally through entirely secular means.

Re: How important is it to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons?

Originally Posted by Northern Light

At this point it's the United States that has to be stopped. We have become too subservient to the zionists of Israel and the Jewish lobby. Iran may have a nutty theocratic government, but they haven't attacked anybody, unlike the imperial U.S.

No more wars. No more "interventions". Just say no to the military-industrial complex. We've had enough and they are bankrupting us.

Let me just say one thing. F*** anyone that wants to destroy Israel. Israel? The only Jewish country in the world? You want to destroy it after what happened in the Holocaust? The one that happened so recently that there are still survivors?

Israel may not be perfect. The location may not be ideal, their settlements in Palestine may be stupid, and they may have a great deal of lobbying power in the US. But if you cannot accept that a people that were nearly wiped off the face of the Earth do not deserve to have a land of their own to prosper and be secure, then f*** you (not you, Northern Light. Just whoever says that )

Re: How important is it to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons?

Originally Posted by aberrant85

Let me just say one thing. F*** anyone that wants to destroy Israel. Israel? The only Jewish country in the world? You want to destroy it after what happened in the Holocaust? The one that happened so recently that there are still survivors?

Israel may not be perfect. The location may not be ideal, their settlements in Palestine may be stupid, and they may have a great deal of lobbying power in the US. But if you cannot accept that a people that were nearly wiped off the face of the Earth do not deserve to have a land of their own to prosper and be secure, then f*** you (not you, Northern Light. Just whoever says that )

What a load of crap. I don't care what happened to them, they don't "deserve" anything, that's just a childish emotional argument. The only reason anyone in the U.S. cares about Israel is because it's a material component in the lunatic evangelical Christian "summon Jesus" spell.

There is nothing demonstrably true that religion can provide the world that cannot be achieved more rationally through entirely secular means.

Re: How important is it to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons?

Originally Posted by Painter

Personally, I believe it to be a much more serious situation than mainstream opinion.
I believe that Iran acquiring nuclear weapons is as large as any crisis humankind has ever faced during its existence.
I will explain why:

#1 The immediate threat to our allies - "Mutual Assured Destruction" (MAD) is why we made it through the Cold War and are alive today. MAD worked great for us, and continues to work great for many nuclear armed Nations around the world. So far, all Nations who have nuclear weapons have a primary common desire which is "Self Preservation".
The "Supreme Leader" and those around him who actually control Iran are motivated more by religious ideology than by anything else. For the first time, those in control of nuclear weapons would be motivated more by religion than by self preservation or by ideologies that are historically compatible with MAD.
I would compare this to placing all of our nuclear weapons under the control of the Westboro Baptist Church, or even a less fanatical group, so long as it cares more about Religion than Life.
There is a fair chance that Iran's leaders would not seek to martyr Iran by destroying Israel. But there is also a fair chance they would.

#2 Immunity - Once Iran moves past the beginner stages and has multiple bombs with a good delivery system, they become impervious from us or any other Nation that would seek to keep them in check. For example: Iran could attack another Arab Country that is not our strong ally. We would no sooner interfere than we did when Russia attacked Georgia. We would not be willing to place our troops or our Nation in harms way to protect a Nation that is not our strong ally.

#3 Immunity stage 2 - Once Iran has a nuclear deterrent, we will not attempt to stop them or invade them for any reasons short of attacking a NATO nation or Israel. There would be nothing to stop Iran from continuing its nuclear program and entering an arms race. Who can say for certain that they will not end up with hundreds, or even thousands of nuclear weapons?
Thousands is doubtful, but what about 50 or 150 over the next 40 years? What would possibly prevent this once they get started?

#4 Eventual Direct Threat - At some point Iran will have a delivery system capable of delivering a direct nuclear payload to the United States. Regardless of how you view the issue in it's entirety, a new Cold War with Iran is just simply not a good thing. Once they have a couple of bombs, we will not be able to stop them from eventually reaching this point.

#5 Iran's ability to control their nuclear weapons - Every single County that poses nuclear weapons is at constant risk that they could fall into the wrong hands. Even our own country. Iran has very deep and very strong under currents of extremism. Even if their Supreme Leader wants them to remain secure and under lock and key, (which is debatable in itself), can he guarantee that 1 bomb or even some bomb material would never slip into the wrong hands?

#6 Iran's possible desire to deliberately allow them into extremist hands - Can we be sure that the Supreme Leader would not allow enough material for a bomb to slip into the hands of an extremist faction and wind up detonating in Israel, The Unites States, or another ally? I know some of you will say, "No, because we can trace its signature and know it came from Iran and we'd destroy them". However, only nuclear material that is already documented can be traced. And assuming it is traceable, you are depending on a variation of MAD. Iran may or may not believe that we would destroy them if they were attempting to say the loss of nuclear material was an accident. Especially after watching the chaos surrounding our claims of chemical weapons in Syria. Misinformation is a powerful thing. But the real issue is not whether it would work, but whether Iran might think it would work.

#7 I want one too! When Iran has nuclear weapons, everyone in the Middle East will want nuclear weapons. Israel will want more. All Arab and Muslim Nations will want the deterrent as well as the power of having nuclear weapons. Once Iran has nuclear weapons, it is only a matter of time before more Nations have them too. Eventually, someone will use them. Eventually, someone will lose control of them to extremists.

The nuclear weapons of today dwarf the atomic bombs we dropped on Japan. Just 1 detonation in the right place with the right weather conditions could be catastrophic for the environment and the food chain. It would only take 1 detonation to collapse our own economy. Would only take a dozen to send us back to the stone age with town sized skirmishes over food and resources.
Yet we have thousands.
Take a look at just the documented arsenals of the world:List of states with nuclear weapons - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pakistan has up to an estimated 120 nuclear bombs. This is why we give them so much money. They are on the verge of losing control and we must make sure they stay in control.
Do we want to be giving Iran billions each year too?

Currently Pakistan, India, North Korea, and Israel do not have long distance delivery systems. This will change in time. Just as it will change for Iran, whether it gets the bomb or not.

I think it would be (or will be) terrible. However, I think it's inevitable and that's there not much we could do about it unless we invaded Iran and occupied the country.

Re: How important is it to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons?

I think it would be (or will be) terrible. However, I think it's inevitable and that's there not much we could do about it unless we invaded Iran and occupied the country.

I see 3 options.

#1 just as you said, full invasion with occupation.
#2 Bribe them in such a way that they are able to give up their nuclear program while saving face and gloating.
#3 Get Russia on board 100%.

#1 and #2 are not realistic politically.
#2 sets a dangerous precedent even if it were possible politically.
#3 Is not ideal and very difficult to make happen , but when you remove the impossibilities it is all that is left standing.
Either we manage to get Russia on board with us vs Iran's nuclear program, or Iran will eventually have nukes. It is really that simple when it comes down to it.
Russia holds the key to it all. Iran will not defy Russia because Russia is their lifeline to trade and to the international community. A future for Iran without Russia is very dark.
The question is what will it take to bring Russia around. It would be a steep price in more ways than 1.

Re: How important is it to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons?

Originally Posted by Ockham

IMO preventing Iran from getting a deliverable nuclear weapon - short range or long range - is paramount to the U.S. Whether that happens by negotiation, sabotage, military action - it doesn't matter. Something should have been done about this in a permanent way, years ago. It's not so much about the weapon, but the crazy mullah's running Iran that would be willing to use them against Israel or Europe or whoever. The world doesn't need another uncontrollable fanatical nation with nuclear weapons.

Not really. The threat that Iran's nuclear weapons pose don't come from the regime itself. Despite the claims of others that the Iranian regime is fanatical and uncontrollable, thirty years of their regime show a very calculated and rational government who wants to stay in power. No one has ever pointed out a single instance where the Mullahs were even remotely inclined to risk their own necks. Iran's had WMD for years in the form of chemical weapons. Have they used them? Iran is as likely to use a nuclear device as North Korea. Only when their power base is at risk of being toppled.

The problem of Iranian nukes is that everyone else in the region will want them. A nuclear arms race in the most unstable region of the planet is extremely dangerous. Iran with nukes? Not that big of a deal. Every single nation in the Middle East rushing to get them to counter a potential Iranian threat? That's the real threat.